Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Meatloaf aghast, cottage pie, alas

Last night's dinner consisted of... mashed potatoes.

Well, meatloaf really. I LOVE meatloaf. I mean, people, ketchup was developed solely for meat loaf. It's the best thing for a winter night meal. Yummy. Meatloaf and mash. I mean really, what is meatloaf, but ground beef mixed with stuff? With a side of mash? It's the perfect meal. With gravy even!

So why is it, the same family that will eat ground beef in s'getti, tacos, chili, macaroni and cheese, hamburger helper, rice, etc etc, won't eat it in the form of meat loaf? What is this objection to one of America's classics? This is the quintessential 1950s meal, clearly a perfect meal since it was developed in such a perfect quintessential time. We love retro. We love quintessential. So what is this 'I don't like meat loaf' thing? Even Turbo and Bear, the little hungry bears, only ate the mashed potatoes. It's not like I did anything funky to it. Make the meat loaf. Bake the meat loaf. I think my children may be too picky. But they need to get un-picky. Becuase sometime in the year 2007 I intend to be back at work (lots of wanting to buy boots going on here) and I am not coming home to make fancy schmancy steak dinners or other gourmet fare.

Yes, my children make me sad.
But the only thing I have to say to them is, I won't make meat loaf again, but you better get used to casseroles.

So tonight is an old stand by I KNOW they will eat. Shepherds Pie. But recently I discovered that what we in North America call Shepherds Pie is actually Cottage Pie. Shepherds Pie is made with lamb. Either way, it's yummy. The kids eat it. It's not meat loaf. It's easy. I mean, like, the easiest thing ever.

You can find the original recipe but basically toss some onion and ground beef in a pan and fry. Add corn. Or, if you forgot to buy corn, mixed veggies. Toss it in a baking dish. Make some instant mash. Layer it over the beef. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake. Eat.

Yum.

This dish I always intend to use for two nights, but my family goes through the whole thing in one. Tonight I'm trying a more English version of Cottage pie.

Now if only somebody could tell me how to make a pasty, and a cheese and onion pasty and mmm they are sooo good, but no recipes for them. It's hard to define it too because I know I like cornish pastys, I don't know what the cheese and onion ones are actually called. Try putting 'yummy cheese and onion thing with maybe potatoes in a pasty thing' in google and see what you get.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seconds please (holds the plate out).

Ed

The Curmudgeon said...

Now I figured out where I've seen you before -- Picard!

Thanks for visiting.

Lahdeedah said...

Yes, we all love Picard...

Ed, no more for you.

MommasWorld said...

My family is Scottish and Irish with only the very few of us state side. We love meat pie, same as cottage pie but without the mashed potatoes. What boggles my mind is why they boil the beef with the onions and bullion to put the beef flavoring back in the beef. Browning the beef and searing the onions works much better in my book. I make individual meat pies (beef,lamb, or pork) in pie tins the size of a pot pie. I place a premade pie crust in the bottom, fill with the meat and onions then cover and freeze. If you want to make them microwavable cook the crust in a pie tin, cool, place in a paper bowl, fill with meat and onions and freeze for later.